Proper angles and sizes for a ship...

Might be making a plugin!

So my dream to making a nice EVN DeLorean plugin is close to coming true. I found somone with 3D Studio Max that might be able to make some pictures from a model. I just need to make sure that the model is at the proper angles for the PICT. Since I don't know how to make a custom ship, I need some clarification on the pictures.

- I want the ship to be comparible in size to, say, a Starbridge. What size in pixels am I looking at?
- Do I need more than 36 base frames, or will that produce a smooth enough animation for the size?
- What degree of roll should the car have to make a nice swerving look for the banking shots?

Thank you a TON if you can help me on this. Even more if you have 3DS Max and are willing to do it for me. I may come off as lazy to you guys, but I really don't know where to get started... Help!

This post has been edited by purple1 : 17 June 2005 - 06:48 PM

purple1, on Jun 18 2005, 10:47 AM, said:

So my dream to making a nice EVN DeLorean plugin is close to coming true.

Ooh, does it travel through time? 🙂

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- I want the ship to be comparible in size to, say, a Starbridge. What size in pixels am I looking at?

The Starbridge base sprite is 48 by 48 pixels.

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- Do I need more than 36 base frames, or will that produce a smooth enough animation for the size?

Should be smooth enough - the Starbridge only has thirty-six, after all.

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- What degree of roll should the car have to make a nice swerving look for the banking shots?

Well, that's up to you, really. My guess would be somewhere in the region of ten to fifteen degrees, but it all really depends on what you think looks best.

I think the viewing angle for Nova ships is 30 degress from vertical (top-down), but I could be mistaken.

As far as a banking angle is concerned, I would suggest using a base of ten degrees, and if it isn't how you want it to be then you could increase it. You obviously don't want it too high or it won't look realistic.

As a side note to the above, once you get the pictures figured out, if it's not too intensive (as you are only making one model), you could take multiple images from different angles, put them all into the game and then fly around, seeing which one you like best and being able to compare them all side-by-side, so to speak.